# Do you have your Windows Taskbar anywhere other than at the bottom? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 5, 2004, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-your-windows-taskbar-anywhere-other-than-at-the-bottom/248842 "2004-06-05T19:13:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-your-windows-taskbar-anywhere-other-than-at-the-bottom/248842/1 "2004-06-05T19:13:05Z")
And if so… WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? WEIRDO! (😃 only joking. Why do you prefer it where you have it?) ---
**Author:** ![RandomLetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@RandomLetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLetters)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-your-windows-taskbar-anywhere-other-than-at-the-bottom/248842/2 "2004-06-05T20:19:33Z")
I have it set(and locked in place) on the left side of the screen for my guest account on my computer; it annoys my brothers enough to keep them from beggin to use my computer for too long. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![hybrid\_dogfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@hybrid\_dogfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hybrid_dogfish)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-your-windows-taskbar-anywhere-other-than-at-the-bottom/248842/3 "2004-06-05T20:21:17Z")
My taskbar lives at the right side of the screen, and i ask people who have it otherwise…WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU WEIRDO? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![igloorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/858c86/32.png) [@igloorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/igloorex)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-your-windows-taskbar-anywhere-other-than-at-the-bottom/248842/4 "2004-06-05T20:26:45Z")
In no way is this an attempt to hijack with a win/Mac slugfest… I keep the Mac “Dock” on the left side b/c the iMac has a 16:9 (i.e. wide stretch) monitor and I have more space side to side than up and down. ---
**Author:** ![hybrid\_dogfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@hybrid\_dogfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hybrid_dogfish)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-your-windows-taskbar-anywhere-other-than-at-the-bottom/248842/5 "2004-06-05T20:27:28Z")
Anyway, I forgot to say why :smack: . It simply looks better to me there: [My Desktop](http://img15.photobucket.com/albums/v46/dogshark/desktop.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-your-windows-taskbar-anywhere-other-than-at-the-bottom/248842/6 "2004-06-05T20:29:34Z")
Damn, **dogfish** , that is one neat, uncluttered desktop. Ya weirdo. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-your-windows-taskbar-anywhere-other-than-at-the-bottom/248842/7 "2004-06-05T20:33:49Z")
> [@hybrid\_dogfish](#): > > Anyway, I forgot to say why :smack: . It simply looks better to me there: > [My Desktop](http://img15.photobucket.com/albums/v46/dogshark/desktop.jpg) Ice cooool! Are those windows GUI mod apps trustworthy? (the ones that drastically change the appearance of the task bar and other things) ---
**Author:** ![hybrid\_dogfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@hybrid\_dogfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hybrid_dogfish)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-your-windows-taskbar-anywhere-other-than-at-the-bottom/248842/8 "2004-06-05T20:36:40Z")
> [@Hal Briston](#): > > Damn, **dogfish** , that is one neat, uncluttered desktop. > Ya weirdo. 😛 Hmmm, I suppose it is, but I went and bought StyleXP (lets you alter the way XP looks) and found a cool looking metallic setup and didn’t want to spoil it. To be honest, going to the start menu for things isn’t that mush slower than finding a desktop icon amongst the crap. ---
**Author:** ![hybrid\_dogfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@hybrid\_dogfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hybrid_dogfish)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-your-windows-taskbar-anywhere-other-than-at-the-bottom/248842/9 "2004-06-05T20:43:44Z")
**Lobsang** , I use [Style XP](http://www.tgtsoft.com/prod_sxp.php) made by TGT Soft, and find it to be fine, no (more) crashes, no spyware, of course, you have to pay for it, but I prefer that to getting some POS spyware or trojan on my machine. Also, it seems to be the program with the best themes for winXP (IMHO). You can get a Demo of it anyway . I have not had any experience with other program that do similar things, so I couldn’t comment on them. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-your-windows-taskbar-anywhere-other-than-at-the-bottom/248842/10 "2004-06-05T21:14:38Z")
At the top, of course. The bottom of full screen windows has useful stuff. The top is just a title bar and, with auto-hide, the title bars are almost always visible anyway. Most control actions happen at the top, so having the task bar there fits. Try it, you’ll like it. “One of us. One of us. …” ---
**Author:** ![Merhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Merhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merhouse)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-your-windows-taskbar-anywhere-other-than-at-the-bottom/248842/11 "2004-06-05T21:20:57Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > At the top, of course. The bottom of full screen windows has useful stuff. The top is just a title bar and, with auto-hide, the title bars are almost always visible anyway. Most control actions happen at the top, so having the task bar there fits. > > Try it, you’ll like it. > > “One of us. One of us. …” Thank you!!! I’ve been trying to figure out why I have ALWAYS put my task bar at top, and I knew there was a reason other than it drives other people nuts and I like it better. Now I know I really **did** have a reason! 😃 Man, if I ever become sentient, I’m really gonna be dangerous :eek: ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-your-windows-taskbar-anywhere-other-than-at-the-bottom/248842/12 "2004-06-05T22:36:11Z")
Mine is at the bottom because… well that’s where it is. No, seriously, I guess 99% of the time if I’m using my mouse, it’s in the lower half of the screen (I use keyboard shortcuts a lot of the time for menu options) and so it’s just a shorter trip to the bottom than the top. I really ought to auto hide mine, though, because I rarely ever actually use the taskbar. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-your-windows-taskbar-anywhere-other-than-at-the-bottom/248842/13 "2004-06-05T22:43:43Z")
At work, I have NT, and I keep the taskbar along the top, which is exactly where the Apple Menu and MultiFinder go. At home, I keep the Dock along the bottom, but only for the screen space. I prefer along the left edge, which is where I had The Tilery set up for years. ---
**Author:** ![1010011010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ea666f/32.png) [@1010011010](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1010011010)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-your-windows-taskbar-anywhere-other-than-at-the-bottom/248842/14 "2004-06-05T22:50:36Z")
I keep mine on the [top.](http://zaeboola.home.netcom.com/JigroDesktop.jpg) I found it annoying to have Start Menu subpanels open up with the menus misaligned because they’re longer than the previous panel. With the menu at the top, the tops of all the panels are along the same line. One the downside, the WinXP GUI widget set isn’t actually designed for the start menu in any position other than the bottom, so every so often it will open new windows with their top edge covered by the bar. I don’t know if this happens with the menu on the sides, but I imagine it would only be a problem on the right side (as it would, again, be covering the Minimize/Maximize/Close buttons). ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-your-windows-taskbar-anywhere-other-than-at-the-bottom/248842/15 "2004-06-05T23:20:26Z")
I have it along the right side (auto-hidden). In addition, all my desktop icons are on it, and my Favourites list and My Computer are both menus on it. I don’t have a Quicklaunch bar. I find the fact that the taskbar items use as much horizontal space as possible, until all the vertical space is filled very useful. More of the window-title is retained. So, when I’m here I don’t have to hover over a thread/forum’s taskbar item to see which thread it it because they all read ‘Straight Dope Mess…’ A few other sites are the same way I like the uncluttered desktop, which is why the icons are on it, and the Links and My Computer are handy where I have them. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-your-windows-taskbar-anywhere-other-than-at-the-bottom/248842/16 "2004-06-05T23:27:34Z")
> [@1010011010](#): > > One the downside, the WinXP GUI widget set isn’t actually designed for the start menu in any position other than the bottom, so every so often it will open new windows with their top edge covered by the bar. Why not set the taskbar to Autohide? It doesn’t add much more work to get at it, and it prevents that from happening. (Although occasionally, I’ll go too far when I’m going for the ‘close window’ button, and the taskbar pops up. I just move off and try again.) ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-your-windows-taskbar-anywhere-other-than-at-the-bottom/248842/17 "2004-06-05T23:58:20Z")
At the bottom, autohidden. And no clutter of icons on my desktop either. Things I want to access quickly, I put on the QuickLaunch bar. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-your-windows-taskbar-anywhere-other-than-at-the-bottom/248842/18 "2004-06-06T00:07:32Z")
Along the left side, and about 2 inches wide, auto-hidden. Why? Because at my previous job I ran many many QVTNet sessions at once. The task bar at the bottom made the icons for the various windows so tiny I couldn’t tell which was which. I disovered that having the task bar on the left made it so I could have each and every task bar entry the same width all the time, and wide enough so I could tell what each one was. Made switching between tasks very easy. Now I just do it because I’m used to it. ---
**Author:** ![1010011010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ea666f/32.png) [@1010011010](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1010011010)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-your-windows-taskbar-anywhere-other-than-at-the-bottom/248842/19 "2004-06-06T00:08:34Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Why not set the taskbar to Autohide? Having the Start Menu popping in and out of Autohide would annoy me more than the occassional window being created with its top bar covered by the Start Menu. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-your-windows-taskbar-anywhere-other-than-at-the-bottom/248842/20 "2004-06-06T00:42:23Z")
Here is mine: [http://winstonlf.com/hotaru/zweisamkeitdesktop.jpg](http://winstonlf.com/hotaru/zweisamkeitdesktop.jpg) (I have a distressingly high number of icons on my desktop. I must delete some of them soon). As you can see, I have my taskbar at the top, using Style XP’s “Jaguar Aqua Blue”, and I use Object Dock (found here: [http://www.stardock.com/products/objectdock/](http://www.stardock.com/products/objectdock/) ) on the bottom. I always have Trillian docked on the right-hand side of my desktop (names in the Trillian space and in the message taskbar icons are blurred to protect the innocent ;)); and if you look carefully, Trillian is set up at 20% transparency so you see a tiny bit of my wallpaper through the window. My laptop is set up similarly, but no Style XP. People at work (I work in my uni’s Computer Center with all the servers etc) laugh at me when I move my mouse to the top of the screen to get to the Start Menu.